Building More than Houses with Tanya Cromwell of Caddis Builders

Michael Krisa sits down with Tanya Cromwell, one of the founding and managing owners of Caddis Builders in Eastern Idaho, to explore the practical side of running a successful construction company in today's competitive market.

 

Tanya's journey began in 1995 when she couldn't find a house design she liked and decided to teach herself AutoCAD and build her own home. Three decades later, she's built an impressive dual career running both Idaho Home Design, which designs 125 homes a year and creates renderings for Parade of Homes magazine, and Caddis Builders, which handles everything from multifamily and custom homes to land development in the Snake River Valley.

Our conversation covers the real challenges facing construction companies today, starting with the sobering reality that five workers are retiring for every one new person entering the trades.

 

Tanya shares her hands-on approach to addressing this workforce crisis, including how she's created ownership pathways for young employees through dividends and bonuses that convert to company shares over a 10-12 year period. This isn't just about retention - it's about building a sustainable future for the business.

 

We dive deep into the nuts and bolts of subcontractor management, where Tanya reveals her A/B contractor system and why Caddis Builders pays subcontractors weekly instead of the industry standard monthly payments. Managing relationships with over 200 subcontractors across multiple trades requires strategy, and she explains how this approach has helped them maintain loyalty and priority status even in Idaho's highly competitive market.

 

The conversation also explores the financial side of construction, particularly how Tanya approaches spec home financing without traditional bank loans. She discusses working with investors like doctors and dentists who want to diversify their portfolios, and how this strategy keeps cash flow healthy while minimizing risk.

 

For larger developments, like the 370-home subdivision she's currently building, she explains the partnership approach with investment groups that handle ownership and sales while Caddis focuses on what they do best - building quality homes quickly.

 

Throughout the discussion, Tanya emphasizes the importance of knowing your strengths and filling gaps with the right people. She's upfront about not being a fan of accounting, which led her to bring in a partner with that expertise while she focuses on operations and design. This strategic team building has been crucial to Caddis Builders' growth to 18 employees over the past three and a half years.

 

We also touch on the broader industry challenges, including the need to bring more women into construction and change perceptions about the trades. Tanya discusses how attitudes are slowly shifting, particularly with initiatives like Idaho's governor offering grants for trade school attendance, but notes that change needs to start much earlier in elementary school to truly impact career perceptions.

What We Discussed

• How Tanya transitioned from teaching herself AutoCAD to running two successful companies
• Her approach to subcontractors and why paying weekly beats monthly payments
• Creating ownership pathways for employees through dividends and share conversion
• Financing spec homes without traditional bank loans using investor partnerships
• Managing 200+ subcontractors and 18 employees in a competitive market
• Strategies for bringing more women into construction and changing industry perceptions
• Building sustainable exit strategies and succession planning for construction companies
• The importance of trade education

Tanya Cromwell brings 30 years of construction experience to this conversation, combining operational expertise with a passion for developing talent and building sustainable businesses.

Her industry leadership extends far beyond her companies - she currently serves as the National Representative for Idaho at the National Association of Home Builders, sits as a Trustee for the National Professional Women in Building Board, and was recently named Woman of the Year for the National Association of Homebuilders in 2025.

As the first female president of both her local and state builders associations, and recipient of numerous awards including Associate of the Year, Builder of the Year, and the 2019 International Company Owner of the Year Award, her insights offer practical strategies for anyone looking to grow a construction company, manage teams effectively, or navigate the current market challenges facing the industry.

You can follow Tanya on social media @Build_With_T.
Tanya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/idahohome

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
not everybody can be a businessowner, you got to get the right

(00:02):
people in the right seats on the bus.
you know, teaching construction is, issomething that, you know, can be taught,
knowing money and understanding money is alittle bit more difficult, in my opinion.
So we went to the banking industry and,and kind of headhunted a, young guy and
pulled him out of the banking industrybecause he really understood the financial
side of things and everything and now he'sgoing to be my operations guy, you know?

(00:25):
But really as you're raising a familyand you're young and stuff, you just
don't have the money to buy a company.
and still make ends meet, youknow, cause you gotta have cash
flow and trying to have that cashflow is hard when you're young,
So by this, this way, we pullthese guys in and, teach them
how it's going and everything.
And then at the end of theyear, we're ready to start
selling some of the company off.

(00:45):
We'll give them a bonus and that bonuswill go to buy shares of the company.
And then the next year theyget their bonus plus there
are an under dividends, right?
that's kind of how we've set it upand it's, like you say, it gives
them that incentive because theytake ownership of the company.
They feel like it's their owncompany, they are all bought in,
you know,
a brilliant strategy, Tanya, becauseA, they've got skin in the game

(01:09):
because you're giving them dividends.
So you're not really losing cash becauseit comes back into the company, which
brilliant, um, you're saving themfrom a life of crime and prostitution
by getting them out of banking.
Kudos for you.
You've saved a soul.
We don't need another Mr. Drysdaletwirling his mustache by any means, and
you're just opening up a whole opportunityof something that may have never been

(01:31):
possible, or even within their wildestdreams, that they could attain ownership
into something that belongs to them.
That's brilliant.

(01:57):
, So, Tanya, I figured we should address the elephant in the room.
And what I mean by that, Igot to be careful because
terms like, so I'm like Homer Simpson.
I could be two sentences aheadof my brain at any given time.
And it is, did I think that outloud or did I actually say it?
So when I say elephant in the room,I don't, it harkens back to a story.

(02:17):
I was at NAR.
On the elevator and coming down to one ofthe, I guess, workshops, whatever it is.
And this woman jumps onto the elevatorand gravity has had an effect on her.
Let's say that politely.
And she has all these ribbons on her.
And obviously from all the committeesthat she's been on and stuff.
And I look over without thinking.
And I can still feel the swat frommy wife's hand across my backside.

(02:40):
I said, you look like a prized hog.
And I meant that in a nice way, butno, I shouldn't say elephant in the
room, but where I'm going with this,how does somebody, you know, as petite
as you blonde with no tattoos, endup being such a successful builder?
you know, it's, been a life of learningand education, and, uh, can do spirit, you

(03:04):
know, I, Started in, in 1995, we went tobuild our own house and, you know, and I
thought, Hey, let's, let's build a house.
And I couldn't find ahouse design I liked.
And I'm like, well, I'll do that.
I'll, just design my own.
So, you know, I, I learned how, and I,that's how I started and I, and it just
become my passion just, you know, overthe years of helping people become.

(03:26):
Have their American dream, youknow, of owning their own home.
and it's just become a passionof mine and female, male, it, it
does, it just didn't matter to me.
You know, I was raised with 14 cousinsthat were all boys, same age as me.
And I was just one of the guys, you know?
So for me, it was never a difference,
Were there any builders inthe family, like your parents,

(03:47):
your father, anything like
No, my grandfather, and, uh, so my dadhad, there was six boys all together.
They were loggers, they logged up in, uh,north of us, uh, a vacation area called
Island Park and they would, my uncle hada sawmill I always say that I have sawdust
in my blood, you know, just because theywere, they were loggers back in the day

(04:09):
but no, no, um, my uncle was a builder,um, but he was a commercial builder.
Nobody was in residential building at all.
So.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.
That's it.
So you're, if you want to call itevolution, so you start off as, you
know, you're a kid, you're having fun,hanging around the sawmill sort of thing.
You go to school, obviously youget a degree in architecture.

(04:30):
Is that where you went?
No, no, oddly enough, I actuallywent to school for dance.
I was going to be, I'd havea dance teacher, right?
Crazy story.
I went to school to becomea dance teacher, and I, I
did, I had my own studio.
I had 300 students and, and everythingand, and I got pregnant with my

(04:53):
son and I thought, you know what?
he's gonna go to school all day, I'mgonna get home, or he gets home from
school, and I'm gonna go to work, andI'm gonna be gone till ten o'clock at
night, and then I'm gonna come back home.
I'm never gonna get to see my kids,and so immediately I knew, you know, I
was on the dance team in college, andall that kind of stuff, and I loved
performing, but I didn't love teaching,so, so I knew, you know, right when

(05:15):
I got, when I was expecting him thatit just wasn't the career for me.
So I did have a lot of different thingsthat I did over the years and, why my
kids were young, I was a stay at home mom.
But I still needed that creativeoutlet and that type of stuff.
So that's when I, we got started, Istarted building our house, um, like
I said, in 95 I had a two year oldand a one year old, and that's when

(05:37):
I designed my first house was then.
In the state of Idaho, you don't have tobe an architect to do residential design.
So I became a draftsman and Ijust taught myself how to use
CAD, AutoCAD back in the day.
That's and just taughtmyself how to use it.
And then after I built our house, somebodyasked, Hey, will you design my house?
And so then I just kind ofstarted as a hobby, really.

(05:58):
Um, and I started learning more andmore about construction and all the
different things and that went into it.
And I was never a designer thatjust was sat behind the computer.
I had to be out on the job site.
So I knew what I was designing worked.
And so I was out on the job site withthe guys and everything, and then,
and then it just became, I got tobecome a builder now, you know, so.

(06:21):
It just evolved from there.
It must have made for interestingconversations around the dinner table.
Honey, pastas, potatoes.
Oh, we're building a house.
Like, how does that even happen?
it was kind of crazy.
I, I always wanted to build a house.
I don't know why, wherethat passion came from.
My, you know, my grandfather,like I said, once he retired from
logging, he used to build furniture.

(06:42):
And so I think it's just always beenthat, you know, always worked with my
hands, always worked with tools and stuff.
My dad had a shop, you know,and we'd do craft projects and
different things and stuff.
So.
You know, always, that building site, itnever intimidated me and I just, it was
always just a desire to have somethingdifferent than everybody else, you know,
I didn't want to just go buy, buy a housethat was the same as everybody else,

(07:06):
I think that the, the influence of yourgrandparents is so crucial because, you
know, go sit in the corner, Tanya and goplay with dolls or something like that.
You, and I'm not saying you'relike the guys, but you already had
this proclivity that you wantedto do things with your hands and
you were encouraged by doing that.
And I kind of jumped to where we aretoday, that so many kids, you know, guys

(07:30):
and girls, I don't want to say they'rediscouraged, maybe so, like, you know, the
trades have this stigma around them, thatthat's where you go if you're not smart.
Sort of thing.
And you need, you need to go get a degreein some useless, no offense, dance theory.
Come out a hundred thousandin debt and homeless, and you

(07:52):
have no job and no prospects.
You know, I, I was guilty.
I have three adult children.
Um, I was guilty as any of them.
My, my kids were very intelligent.
They all have master's degrees,but I was, when they got graduated
high school, I was thinking, man,you got to go get your degree.
You can't get a job without it.
Can't get a good paying jobwithout it, you know, but I do

(08:13):
think the rhetoric is changing.
I do think that we areseeing that, hey, you know.
The trades are becoming moreimportant, and I, I see a little
bit of change starting to happen.
And in, especially in my area, you know,our, our governor of our state is actually
giving, you know, grants to kids to goto college in the trades or, you know,

(08:34):
not to college, not traditional college,but into the trades, you know, 7, 000 per
student that goes into a trade school.
So we do see it changing some.
But we have to start younger, youknow, and we talk about it when they
graduate high school, but it's nothigh school you got to start at.
You got to start at when you, they'rein elementary school and, and let them
know that it's okay if you want to twista wrench or, you know, throw some mud or

(08:57):
whatever it is that you're going to do.
You got to start with them youngand, you ask little kids what do
they want to be when they grow upand, and they all say doctors and
lawyers or whatever it might be.
You know, astronauts, that's mygrandson, astronaut, you know.
But, really, getting themexcited about it when they're
young, that's what's important.
I remember you just kind of prompted somefond memories of kindergarten when we

(09:21):
had these really big wooden blocks andthe planks, and we'd build these forts
and of course they'd come tumbling down,but who knew that those blocks, they're
actually building with them today, butnow they're made out of composites.
And I just did an interview yesterday.
He's a former two term congressmanfrom Florida, and I'm having a
brain fart moment at the time.

(09:41):
His name will come to me momentarily,but that's what his company does now.
They're building these homes that are
bricks and everything.
I'm not saying prefab, I don't want tomake it sound like it's cookie cutter,
but you hand him the design and thenbased on that design, they cut it down
to exactly what the specifications are.
And then it shows up on yourdoorstep, kind of like, I don't

(10:04):
know if you had these in Idaho,but it was a log home in a tube.
You open up the tube andthe logs would come out.
Exactly the same thing.
But I think you're right on point therethat we need to get kids involved so they
can feel what it's like to handle tools.
The fact that we took shop classout of school, like, holy jumping.
I have no idea what they're thinking.
So to your point about Idaho actuallysponsoring this, what I'd really like

(10:28):
to see, and, and correct me if I'm wronghere, paying for their tuition outright
If they're going to learn a trade,but the caveat is that they have to,
whatever the grade point is, obviously,you know, if it's a two year, whatever,
they have to maintain that grade level.
And when they graduate.
Then they have to work somewhere withinthe state where there's an opportunity or

(10:51):
where there's a need for that skill, beit a plumber, carpenter, whatever it is,
and they do their two years, let's say, torepay the debt, and then once they've done
that, hey, you know, go with the grace ofGod and be the best at what you can be.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, it's, it's funny because kidsnowadays, in order just to afford a house
because the affordable housing is justridiculous, they're having to move to

(11:14):
areas that are paying higher amounts.
And Idaho is not one of thehighest paid, you know, areas.
And so you, by doing that, and we don'thave those regulations as far as they have
to stay in the state, but that would bea great thing because then it's kind of
that golden handcuff, keep our kids here,you know, for at least a little while
just to help pay that back, you know, andin the tax base and in, in the revenues

(11:36):
and the shopping and the dining out andall the different things, you know, that
helps everybody in our community, and sothat definitely would help pay that off.
So that's a great idea.
I'm like,
Well, in Nicko's Eagle world, there'sactually a sinister backstory to
that because once they've been in acommunity for a year or two or three,
they're actually putting down roots.
And it's really hard to get up andmove from one cave to another when

(12:00):
you're comfortable by the fire.
So it becomes a win for that communityand more so for the state, the
likelihood of them going somewhere else.
Right.
Wow.
Okay.
Well, so let's jump from what you'redoing into the actual build part.
So you help take, you took over acompany or you started the Canvas.
Give me the backstory on that one.

(12:21):
so, I actually, as I was designing houses,you know, how the, the drafting company,
that is, you know, my company, and Istill, to this day, love doing that.
And I still do that.
And I will probably dothat till the day I die.
It's kind of my retirement plan, you know.
But the construction company, a lotof people are like, oh, I want to
start my own company, but man, neverdiscount the power of partnerships.

(12:45):
One of the contractors that I would drawspec plans for, he'd come to me and he's
like, you know, none of my kids want mycompany, none of them want to take over.
Why don't you just come be mypartner and, uh, we'll start,
you know, a construction company.
And I'm like, absolutely.
And this was, you know, 20 years ago.
And so we started, you know, building highend spec homes, 25 custom homes a year.

(13:09):
And it was high end stuff andI, I loved every minute of it.
I learned so much from thatpartner, that I couldn't learn.
It was, it was just like me payingfor an education, come four years ago
now, he retired and so I, we started,uh, me and a couple of other partners
started a new construction company.
And this, our construction company,currently, we do multifamily,

(13:32):
single family developments.
We, you know, we do all the gamutsof, of residential building and
some like commercial as well.
So we started that about threeand a half years ago now.
So
Is Idaho a competitive marketright now for home builds?
it is, yeah, yeah.
You know, I mean, it, it kind of likethe market across the U. S., it's a

(13:52):
slow, slow right now, but we're, ourmultifamily is still really booming.
I always say we're about six monthsbehind everybody else, but Idaho's
been the fastest growing statefor the last five years in a row.
So we've got a lot of people moving intothe state from out of town, you know, ever
since COVID and all the work from home.
There, people are getting out of thebig cities, you know, and, and into

(14:14):
the smaller communities and that's whatIdaho is and we have all the playgrounds
all around us, you know, I have JacksonHole, Wyoming, Sun Valley, Yellowstone
National Park, and I'm right in the middleof all the playgrounds, so everybody
loves it here, you know, it's great.
That's great.
When you said COVID, everywherewas better, but here, you know,

(14:35):
and I saw that here in the city,like, you know, I'm not in the
city, I'm two hours North, but inthe downtown, everybody goes, Oh,
we got to get out of the downtown.
We're going to die.
So they moved to the suburbs.
Everybody in the suburbssaid, Oh, we're going to die.
So they move, you know,further out, you know, an hour.
know.
I'm not appellee.
By the way, the guy'sname was Patrick Murphy.

(14:55):
Patrick Murphy is the, the teacher.
There you go.
I had that moment, Iredeemed myself, yeah.
What hat do you officiallywear then with Candice?
I am one of the partners,owners of the company.
And so would your specialty then bethe design or do you kind of do a
bit of everything, the marketing and,
I'm, uh, over operations, I, I stillhave the design that I do, you know, but

(15:18):
that, like I said, that's kind of in theevening separate company, you know, time,
but my eight to five, hat is operations.
But we are, we've set this company up toreally give back to the next generation.
We've identified some young guys inour company to eventually take over.
So really it's a mentoring, you know,I'm, I'm teaching them how to run the

(15:40):
company, you know, so my partner is inthe accounting, he was an accountant,
so he's showing them the paper side,money side, all that type of stuff.
And my, my job, my rolehere is to teach these guys.
How to run a successful company,so the interface between, you know,
the clients and the company and howto build a house, really, you know,

(16:03):
the success of how to build a house.
So,
that part's really cool.
So tell me, so you guys have already kindof calculated an exit strategy and I would
argue a lot of builders don't, like, theyhave, let's say a successful company, And
when the day comes that they don't wantto swing a hammer anymore, they either try
to sell it, they try to find an investorthat will come in, partner with them, or

(16:26):
they just let the fruit die on the vine,which I think is just a horrendous loss.
So correct me if I'm wrong here.
It sounds like you're kind ofincentivizing what you would
consider loyal, dedicated employees
yeah, for sure.
you're dangling that carrot.
Hey, if you work hard,this could be yours.
Yeah, we definitely have, our basic,I can give you a really brief example

(16:48):
of what our, our plan is, is we'vebrought, you know, and I've always
felt like three, three partners isjust about right number, you know.
That way you get that tiebreaker,but, uh, you know, we've identified
three or four, uh, you know, thathave great potential in the company.
Can see, not everybody can be abusiness owner, you got to get the

(17:11):
right people on the bus, you know, ifthat book Good to Great, if you haven't
ever read it, it's a great one, youknow, but you got to get the right
people in the right seats on the bus.
So we went out and, you know, teachingconstruction is, is something that, you
know, can be taught, you know, knowingmoney and understanding money is a
little bit more difficult, in my opinion.
Everybody's opinion is different,obviously, but So we went to the banking

(17:33):
industry and, and kind of headhunted a,young guy that I, you know, was in touch
with since he graduated high school, so,and pulled him out of the banking industry
because he really understood the financialside of things and everything and now he's
going to be my operations guy, you know?
But really it, at some point that, youknow, as, as you're raising a family

(17:53):
and you're young and stuff, you justdon't have the money to buy a company.
Sometimes, also, when you're young,trying to start a company and, and
still make ends meet, you know, causeyou gotta have cash flow and trying to
have that cash flow is hard when you'reyoung, you know, owning your own company.
So by this, this way, we pullthese guys in and, and teach them
how it's going and everything.

(18:14):
And then at the end of the year, when,when we have identified, okay, we're ready
to start selling some of the company off.
We'll give them a bonus and that bonuswill go to buy shares of the company.
And then the next year theyget their bonus plus there
are an under dividends, right?
So then they take that money and theycan buy more dividends of the company.
And it's a, basically it's about a10 year, maybe 12, depending on the

(18:36):
economy, you know, if we have an 08 or,or whatever, maybe 12 years, you know.
But that's kind of how we've set itup and, and it's, like you say, it
gives them that incentive becausethey take ownership of the company.
They feel like it's their own company,you know, we talk about where we're
going and what's our 10 year planand they are all bought in, you know,

(18:57):
a brilliant strategy, Tanya, becauseA, they've got skin in the game
because you're giving them dividends.
So you're not really losing cash becauseit comes back into the company, which
brilliant, um, you're saving themfrom a life of crime and prostitution
by getting them out of banking.
Kudos for you.
You've saved a soul.
We don't need another Mr. Drysdaletwirling his mustache by any means, and

(19:19):
you're just opening up a whole opportunityof something that may have never been
possible, or even within their wildestdreams, that they could attain ownership
into something that belongs to them.
That's brilliant.
Another thing that we've doneis, one of our framers, uh, you
know, was, wasn't making it.
They've been in business for sevenyears and he just, he was like,

(19:41):
Hey, teach me how to do books.
Cause I'm just, I'm just not biddingthese high enough, or I'm not, you know,
he really wasn't, his labor rates werenot charging enough is where it was at.
But rather than teaching him how,it's like, just come to work for me.
We brought his whole crew on.
They're all employeesnow, every one of them.
There was four of them andthey're all employees and they're
great employees, you know.

(20:01):
And we took that stress off of himand we rent his tools from him.
He's making a good living andhe's, his wife is happier than
she's ever been because she don'thave to do the books anymore.
She was working a full time job andstill doing the books, you know?
So there's a lot of instances whenthe guys are just like, yeah, I want
to own my own company, but give themownership, you know, let them, Act as

(20:23):
if they're an owner and, and give themthe power to do that, what they do well.
And he is an amazing framer.
He's an amazing guy to get along withclients and everything, but doing the
books and all the other stuff that comesalong with owning your own company is,
is rough sometimes, you know, they,they're good at swinging hammers,
Yeah, I can attest to that.
I'm marrying an accountant, becauseI'm good with crayons and pens.

(20:47):
When it comes to filling outforms, there's a company that
wants to work with us right nowthat's going to handle our LinkedIn
marketing, social media marketing.
And they sent me this form.
It looks like the Magna Carta, likeliterally it just, it went on forever.
Said, Michael, standardintake form, fill it out.
So we'll have a betterunderstanding of who you are.
so we had a meeting today.

(21:08):
He said, I noticed in my inbox you didn'ttake the time to fill out the form.
And I said, well, because number one,you made the assumption I communicate
in the method that you choose.
And that I think in the methodthat you, it doesn't work that way.
I'm a picture thinker.
So before these lips open, and as Isaid at the beginning, usually they're
two sentences ahead of my brain.

(21:29):
It's 'cause I've already seen the image.
And it gets translatedinto words and I share it.
So I, I, I kind of see everythingbefore I say it sort of thing.
And, uh, I explained to him, if youwant me to fill out the form, get a pen,
listen carefully, ask me the questions.
Ask me the questions.
There you go.
So to your point, you've identifiedthe strengths that these people
have and you've put them in theappropriate place on your team.

(21:51):
Again, that, that, that'swhat a leader does.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, yourwife is an accountant.
My partner, I went and found anaccountant for a partner because
I, I mean, I, I worked in anaccounting office for 10 years.
Can I do the money?
Yes.
Do I love it?
No, I hate it.
I'm not, you know, I'm the more thecreative, you know, he's the money guy,
and so you got to find the people that,even your own weaknesses, that, you

(22:14):
know, they fulfill that position and,and it makes it so much better because
then you enjoy your job every day.
I love coming to work, you know, if Iwas doing the books, I'd hate coming
to work every day, you know, so Ithink that makes a big difference.
And that still comes right back to that,you know, let people do what they're
good at, and even yourself, you have toeven make yourself do what you're good

(22:35):
at, And, uh, as business owners, we,we always want to have our hands and
everything and do everything, but you,gotta let up, don't be a control freak.
You know, that's, that's your biggeststruggle is don't be a control freak.
Let the people that you've hired dothe job that you've hired them to do.
Yeah, I can say with a hundredpercent confidence that I've never
had to identify my own weaknesses.

(22:57):
My friends do.
Yeah.
It's like, okay, here's a wholelist, you know, every, every year
for my birthday, here's the thingsthat you failed at this year, but.
Uh,
you tapped on something there about thebusiness and it made me think of Michael
Gerber's book, The E Myth, that whatyou're doing with your business, but
what you're instilling in these peopleis you can't be all things all the time.

(23:23):
So there comes a time where you haveto make the decision, am I working in
my business, which means I'm trapped?
Or it might work on the businesswhere I can now develop systems
that will free me up, that I cando the things that I enjoy doing.
Like in your case, youlove doing the drawings.
And I think, Many builders fail atthat because they think they have to
do everything, and then their day fromthe time they get up till their head

(23:47):
hits the pillow, hopefully their homeversus sleeping in the truck, it's
putting out fires and trying to keep up.
And, and, and I think the cold reality iswhen you hold up the mirror and you say,
okay, let, let's just take a step backhere, uh, Tanya, how many hours do you put
in, in the course of, let's say a week,and what's that goal, what's your income?

(24:08):
That you want to have, and when youtake that net and you divide it by the
amount of hours that they put in, andsuddenly they see that they're getting
20 bucks, maybe 30 bucks an hour.
Yeah, they're paying theirpeople more than they're getting.
Exactly.
Then I think that's the wake upcall, that holy jumping, I, I
got to get organized somehow.
How do you, how do youinstill that into a builder?

(24:31):
Another great book.
I love that you're mentioning books causeI, I think I hit 175 books last year.
Buy Back Your Time is another great book.
I can't think of the author right now,but, anyway, basically, my philosophy,
and, and it's Buy Back Your Time was, thisis his, his, kind of, the whole book was.
what are the things at the end of theday, what did I do today that I hated?

(24:52):
What was the worst part of my day?
Right?
You reflect on, okay, the best part ofmy day and the worst part of my day.
I even do that with my grandson.
Best part, worst part, at night whenI'm reflecting on what happened today
and, and what was the worst part,it's like, okay, I, I do emails for
me are one of my worst, I hate emails.
Emails are my nemesis.
That's my next hire is somebodyto take care of my emails for

(25:14):
me because it's just my nemesis.
But basically, whatever I hate, that'swhat I'm going to hire somebody to do.
And so, and then once you hire themto do it, you let them have control.
So if I'm going to hire somebody to takeover my emails, I am going to trust them
and I'm going to sit down with them andtell them all of my philosophies on email.

(25:36):
This is what I want to see.
They're going to sort them, they're goingto tell me what's important and once a
day we'll go over everything and they'lltake care of it, but you have to let go
of that control and let them have that,you know, and I get rid of emails and then
that's, that's a way to grow a businessfrom small, you know, single guy out in
the truck running a construction companyto a large company, you're pulling those

(26:00):
guys in and they're making, and then,then it allows you to make the company
money in the way that you, you know,uh, uh, your best performance abilities.
Yeah, we're delegating, like we said atthe beginning, give each their, what their
strength is and then let them run wild.
Yeah.
How many, um, I'll say employees,but you've got partners too,

(26:21):
let's say overall, how manypeople are involved in Caddis?
Caddis, um, they're, yeah,we just hire an 18th person.
So that's, yeah, that's, that's without,so we're just structure management, We
don't self perform too much work just soproject managers, uh, you know, accounting
guys that superintendents Philip Foremans.

(26:44):
and then we have our, our guys thatare push the rooms and clean up
the job sites and they're just asimportant as anybody in here, you know?
But yeah, 18, 18 people
So then you would bring in trades asyou need them, like framers, roofers.
now subcontractors, I probably have oh,200 subcontractors so that we deal with,
So what's the secret then in a competitivemarket to be sure that you've got good,

(27:11):
I'll say regular, that you've got goodpeople that you know that will show up
on time, that are loyal to you, versuschain, changing, going after another
builder that may be paying 2 more.
you know what you mean, payingtheir employees $2 more.
Well, yeah, let's say you've got asubdivision that you're working on
around 30 homes, you're at that pointnow where you're framing, you're calling
up your framing team and they say, Hey,Tanya, we'd love to come out there.

(27:33):
but we haven't heard fromyou in a couple of weeks.
Uh, Bob, the builder is goingto be paying us 10 percent more.
Has that ever come up in your world or
We always have an A subcontractorand a B subcontractor.
So the A subcontractor is the guy that'sdoing most of our work, but the B guy
is always trying to be the A guy, youknow, he's always trying to get the work.

(27:54):
We actually cut, checks weekly.
So we're paying oursubcontractors every week.
They don't have to wait a full month toget paid for the jobs that they've done.
If they submit one by us, youknow, uh, invoice by Friday of
this week, they're getting paidon Wednesday of the next week.
We cut checks every week.
So I think that's something that's veryunique in the construction industry,

(28:16):
cause typically everybody's waiting forthe bank draw and then they cut the check
when we have enough cashflow that we'repaying our subcontractors every week.
That's something that.
That is super important.
I pay my employees very well.
So I have to make up thatdifference somewhere, right?
And that's in schedule, build schedule.
You know, a typical house that's takensomebody, a custom home that's taken

(28:38):
somebody, you know, nine months, I'mbuilding in seven, my little specs
are a four month build schedule.
You know, we're just, we're building afive story, 93 door apartment complex.
It's 14 month build schedule.
You know, it's quick.
We got to do, we got to turn it quick.
are you traditional builders like StickFrame or are you like leveraging the

(28:58):
new technologies that are coming out?
We're, we're traditionalfor the most part.
We've done some, uh, Raycorepanels or kind of like a SIP panel,
you know, that type of stuff.
Um, we've looked into prefab walls and,and different things like that, but the
technology just isn't here in our state.
You know, the closest thatwe have anything like that is

(29:19):
three to four hours away by thetime we get it shipped up here.
It's just not cost effective.
my framer does build the walls off, Imean, on, on the job site, but they build
all the walls on a, on a trailer andthen they stand, stand them individually.
So, and that makes it goquicker, you know, that way.
The past handful of interviewsthat I've done, it wasn't by

(29:39):
design, just happenstance, butit's been, 3D printed homes.
Two different companies that are doingit with two different approaches.
And when I first heard about 3Dprinted, I'm thinking like, what
are you making little Lego blocks?
Like, I'm just approaching again,like I'm six and I'll know you moron.
Then they show me these big extrusionarms and you got a guy with an iPad
that's literally building a home.

(30:00):
And, and one of these companies, theyhave it dialed into the point where they
can do one pass and they can build awall 10 feet high and they can actually
have the house enclosed within two days.
Isn't that cool?
That's
Yeah.
And then you put a flatroof on top of that.
Then do you want to drywall it?
You don't have to, it's already insulated,but you're doing that for aesthetics.
And I thought, wow.
Then the next guy, this is the, thePatrick, uh, guy that I, did the

(30:23):
interview with, he's talking about,I don't want to call it modular.
It's a composite made outof limestone, concrete.
So it's a mix.
That's the, the skeletal structure.
And then the inside is hollowand it can be insulated.
And those are these big blocks andthey can assemble a home within a day.
Mm hmm.
they don't need any heavy equipment.

(30:44):
It's just two guys picking upa thing and they snap it on.
They hit it with a, you know, ahammer and they're literally building
those type of homes that I wastelling you about in kindergarten.
I think we're at this, yeah, we'reat this forefront where technology
isn't going to slowly creep in on us.
I think there's goingto be this quantum leap.
Where suddenly you look around andthere's a subdivision of printed homes.

(31:06):
Here's prefabs, here's modulars,like, and, and the competition will
be which one is the better built.
I think that also is going to help,actually help with our labor force, you
know, cause what kid doesn't want torun a crane that's dumping, you know,
3D printing a house, you know, all thosegamers out there that love to do that
type of stuff, you know, and of courseit takes less people to do that as well.

(31:29):
But yeah, those, those type oftechnologies, we have to adapt,
you know, one of my, businessphilosophies is change or die.
Either you're changingevery day or you're dying.
Your company's either changing or dying.
You got to adapt with the times, you know.
And, and that, I think that appliesto all companies, but construction,

(31:49):
especially, you know, the way we buildnew, we're getting new codes, new energy
efficiencies, different things that way.
We're always having, andyou're always learning.
You're always learning too, youknow, if you're, you're not learning
the new things that are coming out,your company is, is going downhill,
because the consumers, you know, wenow have YouTube university, you know.

(32:10):
We didn't used to have that when I wasyoung and learning and, you know, and
I taught all myself a lot of things,we didn't learn it on the internet,
but man, you have clients that walkthrough your door and they know as
much about building a house as you do,they've learned that, you know, they've
seen it and they want all these newtechnologies and stuff, so I definitely
think we have to stay up to date.

(32:31):
when you talk about the new technologies,the, the one thing that I see coming on
big is I don't want to say the green home,but they're calling it the healthy home.
And again, one of the peoplethat I interviewed, uh, she is
a, what does she call herself?
A healthy home biologist.
And she actually has acertification and a degree on how
you build the most healthy home.
So it's not a home thatmakes you feel good.

(32:52):
It's a home that you feel good in.
Nice.
Which is kind of neat.
And when you think about offgassing and mold and all the evil
things that are lurking about ina home, it makes a lot of sense.
And I thought it's, again, to what'shappening with technology, I'm
just fascinated by It's no longerabout driving a nail into wood.
It's okay.

(33:13):
You have to factor in allthese other different things.
Are there any challengeswith your company?
Like, how do you stay at theforefront of what's happening?
Yeah.
For sure.
You know, I, I think the biggestthing with those new tech, you
know, everybody wants those things.
The challenge for us as a builderis how can we deliver that to
the client at a reasonable cost?

(33:36):
You know, if you've got as muchmoney, you know, as Warren Buffett,
you can build whatever you want.
Right?
But we all have budgets, we all, youknow, when you're, even me building
my own house, you know, and I getmy labor rates or whatever, I still
have a budget that I'm trying to hit.
And that is the most importantthing in the whole scheme of things.

(33:57):
Nobody wants to build their dreamhome and then have to sell it
because they can't afford it.
that is a big thing, you know, it'sthose, all these new technologies that are
coming on, the clean homes that, you know.
The kids' asthmas that are allraised up, you know, all these
things that's happening over time.
You look back and it's like, well, yeah,we build super tight houses now and all,

(34:18):
you know, before in the 19 0, 1900, house,there was lots of air that come in and
out and you know, there, there's a breezecoming when the one's blowing outside,
the breeze is coming through right.
And so, uh, now webuild such a tight home.
You don't get that air circulationlike you used to on that type of stuff.
so we have to put cleanair into the house.

(34:40):
We have had to put fresh air into thehouse and to keep it, you know, we
want the mold gone, we want all thoseoff gassing, those types of things.
That all comes with a cost.
And so how do we balance that?
The.
new technologies and all of thatthat comes along with that in an
affordable price and still givethem what they want as far as house.

(35:01):
I have the answer.
I call it the thankgoodness for rich people.
And, and the analogy I use is that youremember when flat screen TVs first came
out and as they were thundering down theproduction line, I think it was one in
20 or one in 30 actually worked, right?
So the cost to produce thesethings was astronomical.
But the people that could afford them,you know, quote, unquote, are the

(35:22):
rich people and they're buying them.
And then once the manufacturersdialed in the process of being
able to make these and realize thatthere was a market through economies
of scale, the prices come down.
And I can see the same thing is goingto be happening with all these different
technological advancements and buildingas we get to critical mass, whatever
that is, that the public is demandingit and more of them are being produced.

(35:45):
I think those pricesare going to come down.
And to your point.
It addresses the laborshortage that we have.
I think the number, and correct meif I'm wrong here, you probably know
better than I do, for every five peoplethat are stepping down, only one point
something are coming into the trades.
So we're getting to that point wherewe're going to have that perfect storm,
if you will, which isn't going to endwell, where you'll have demand and

(36:08):
you'll have a labor force that can pickand choose where they want to work,
which then at that point, the priceis, you know, shoot astronomically up
again and we're chasing our own tail.
that's exactly right, is, is, at the endof it, when, when we have those labor
shortages, you know, the only way that,you know, labor prices come down, the
only, how can you lower labor prices?

(36:28):
You can't decrease somebody's salary,you have to lay somebody off, right?
That's the only way you're going tobring down labor costs, and we don't want
that, you know, instead, what's, like yousay, you know, less, less people in the
industry, less, you know, that's why weare so focused on getting young people in.
Because that baby boomer generationis all, of great builders are all

(36:50):
retiring, you know, and how do wereplace those guys, that's the challenge.
And when we can't replace them, then laborcosts go up, because there's less and less
of them that are doing more and more work.
Is that something that you're doingwith your involvement with the
National Association of Home Builders?
Is that part of your prerequisiteis how do we attract more
people into the workforce?

(37:11):
And you've got to focus on bringingwomen, more women into the workforce.
Can we touch on that for a bit?
Yeah.
You bet.
Yeah.
So, uh, Homebuilders Associationis, is, I've been involved
in that heavily for years.
Since 2001, I've been on theboard of directors of, of
one association or another.
We were on Capitol Hill last Wednesday.
And that was one of our major thingsis, is we've got to figure out how we

(37:35):
can get more people into the workforce.
Um, the professional women in building.
Chapter has actually teamed upwith Skills America to bring
more girls into the industry.
10 percent of the constructionindustry is women as well, 10.
1 or something like that.
Very, you know, not, not near enough.

(37:56):
And so trying to figure out differentprograms and different ways to get those
kids into the industry is, is definitelya way we've, you know, one of our goals
that we're trying to work towards.
You think part of it is that when wewere talking about the stigma in the
first place, like just getting intothe trades, is there a stigma attached
to women being in the force thatit's, what's the word I'm looking for?
It's prejudiced.

(38:16):
Men are going to take advantage of them.
Does that exist as muchas we think it does?
Or,
You know, ironically, it's the dads,you know, when those kids are 12 or
14, 15, 18 years old, and they'relike, Hey, I want to be an electrician.
The dads are like.
I don't want my, my little girl on ajob site, you know, and by all rights,

(38:40):
I get it, you know, they don't wanttheir, their daughter, you know, and
so we have to change that and knowthat, you know, when you walk onto a
job site, the guy is just as nervousfor you to be on that job site as you
are as a woman walking on a job site.
As a matter of fact, they're probablymore nervous cause they just, you know,
we gotta, we gotta know how to treateach other and people in general, right?

(39:02):
but yeah, we, there is a stigma.
There's definitely a stigma there.
Construction workers, you know, they'recommonly known to have bad language and,
and whatever it might be, you know, and,and they don't want to offend anybody.
And so then they, all of a suddenthey have to act different, you know.
And so they're kind of like uneasy of howto, you know, so we just need to learn

(39:24):
how that, Hey, we're still all people.
We just need to treateverybody the same, you know?
but yeah, that's no differentthan any prejudice that people
may have, whether it's women orwhether it's, you know, another
nationality or whatever it might be,
yeah, I think, I think it's up to the,the owner of the company to actually,
Instill whatever that culture is.
That if I'm hiring you, irrelevantof the gender, you're 110 pounds.

(39:48):
Okay.
In my mind, I know what 110 pounds can do.
You, you can't live, lift ahundred pound bags of cement.
So it's relative to what your skillset is.
And at the end of the day,are we getting the job done?
Yeah.
I mean, we are different physically.
Men and women are physically different.
You know,
Oh, you'll, you'll get introuble for that one, Tanya.

(40:08):
Hello.
No, whether we do or whether we don't, youknow, I mean, it's, it's, we have that,
we are physically, you know, different.
Can I throw a 50 pound bag of, ofconcrete on my shoulder and carry it over?
Yeah, I can.
Do I want to do that every day?
No, I do not, you know, canI lay the tile as well as the

(40:28):
tile, other tile guy next to me?
Absolutely.
Don't worry.
You know, I might not carry the bigbags of it, but I'm going to figure
out a way to get it done, let's justtake that for example, tile guys, you
know, carrying bags of, grout and, and,uh, thinset and everything with them,
if somebody needs, whether it's man orwoman, if they need a wheelbarrow to roll
that bag into it, whatever it might be.

(40:50):
Give the people the tools thatthey need to make it work.
There's some amazing tools out there.
They even have shoulder harnesses now.
I don't know if you've seen them for likesheet, sheet rockers that keep their arms
up, that will like hold their arms inplace and they're all robotic, you know?
So back to that new technologies andstuff, there's some amazing things out

(41:10):
there to help people out, you know?
So I think we can empower, empowerthose women to not have those
setbacks and not be, you know.
know the right word for it, but,you know, I guess discriminated
against because of that.
I just started humming a Bob Dylan tune.
The times are a changing and
they are, They have to.

(41:31):
They have to.
Yeah.
let's delve more intoyour leadership roles.
I want to look at it from thepoint of view of a, like, I'm a
busy builder and I'm focused onrunning a productive company.
Like, what's the win?
I don't want to sound selfish aboutthis, but obviously your time is money.
You have to allocateyour time accordingly.
What's the benefit to me as abuilder to join an association and

(41:55):
what am I going to get out of it?
And how does that translateinto, uh, is it opportunity?
Is it more money?
Like, what is that?
What's that hook that's going tomake more people get involved?
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's amazing.
I would not be here today if I hadnot been a part of the association
and given so much of my timeback to the association for free.
And I, and I say for free,but it's not, I have gained so

(42:18):
much and let me tell you why.
I have builders all across the U. S.
that I know.
I had a builder in Boise, hissister is moving to Idle Falls.
He calls me and says, Hey, do youhave any spec houses for sale?
My sister's moving there.
They need a house that's finished.
Guess what?
She's now my next door neighbor becauseI had a spec house right next door.

(42:41):
I'm doing that apartmentcomplex I talked about earlier.
I am building that foranother builder in Utah.
He couldn't get any subs to come towork for him because they all want
to work for Idaho builders, right?
So I'm building it foranother builder, you know?
So those opportunities, butalso the opportunity to learn.

(43:01):
We sit around the table, you know,you go to your meetings during
the day and then you sit aroundand you go to dinner together and,
and, hey, how are you doing this?
And, and you learn so much from that.
That's where I've learnedeverything that I have.
It's from those guys.
I glean, I ask a millionquestions at dinner.
How are you doing this?

(43:21):
What are you doing with this?
If I'm having a problem, I tell them whatmy problem is and how have you fixed that?
You know, that's, that's what'smade my business is that.
That's all free information.
Just sitting out there waiting foryou to come and volunteer a few
hours to sit through a meeting.
You know, it's the after meeting,that is the part that you
really glean all that in from

(43:42):
you think
Part of it is mindset thatyou shouldn't be going into an
association with what can I get?
It's like, if you want to sit by myfire, bring a log and we all get warm.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Giving back to the industry that's givenme so much, you know, I, I want to give
back to that next, next generation.

(44:03):
I want to give back.
I have gained so much in my life, andit's just been so amazing to do what
I can love to do every day of my life.
And I want to give back.
I want other people to enjoy whatthey've, what I've had, you know.
And that's my way to do it, is, is byvolunteering my time, I, you know, I,
part of that association at the statelevel, the national level, and, and

(44:26):
that's how I give back, it really is.
So, and, but
It's phenomenal.
than I've ever given.
Yeah, to see where you've come from,you know, knocking bark off a tree,
you know, to hear you are runninga successful, building company.
I mean, kudos to you.
It's,
it just shows that if you've got themindset, if you want to apply yourself,

(44:46):
the possibilities are unlimited andyou just have to have that drive.
And I guess the confidence inyourself that I can do it, I
can attitude that I can do this.
that wasn't a plug for Canada, bythe way, but yeah, I can attitude.
Yeah.
if I can, attitude, that's right.
Um, you know, I think a lot of times wereally work to get a seat at the table.

(45:08):
Whether we're women or whoever, as you'rebuilding, making your way up to the
top to, in a company, and we want it,and when you finally get to the table,
that doesn't mean your work ends there.
My work still has not end, youknow, you have to work as hard
as everybody at the table orharder than anybody at that table.
being in the construction industry,there is, you know, we talk about the

(45:29):
stigma of being a woman, but I want.
The respect and stuff, I want thatearned, you know, I want to be able
to be respected for what I have done,and you have to know your stuff.
One of my favorite stories that I tellpeople is I actually had a, a client
come into my office and the husband andwife are sitting across the desk from me.

(45:51):
And the gentleman sits down, foldshis arms and slides his chair
all the way to the back of myroom, across the table from me.
And his wife's right up on the, youknow, on the desk and he's sitting
back in the corner like this, you know,all this, and I'm thinking immediately
in my mind, oh man, this guy, thisguy does not want to build a house.

(46:12):
The only reason he's building a house isbecause his wife wants to build a house.
it's either that or he just doesn'tthink I know what I'm doing because
I'm a woman, you know, and, and I'mlike, oh goody, these are my favorites.
These are my favorites.
Now, I could have taken.
The offense to that, I couldhave been up, you know, offended
and, and upset about it.

(46:34):
But to me, that was challenge.
Challenge on, buddy.
Challenge accepted.
And so as we're getting along, youknow, I'm looking at both of them as I'm
talking, asking questions and every timeI look over at him, he points to his wife.
And so I direct the question toher and, and finally we get to the
garage and I says, now I know you'vegot an opinion on this, right?

(46:58):
Cause you're a guy, you gottahave an opinion on this.
And he says.
I'll tell you what, he says, Ihave promised my wife for 20 years
that I would build her a new home.
I am finally at a point in my lifethat I can make that promise come true.
And that's why we're here today,is to fulfill the promise that

(47:18):
I made to her 20 years ago.
Wow.
Was I taken aback?
Because I totally judged him a hundredpercent wrong, you know, I still
get chills to this day about this,this, but it was so, Eye opening for
me to realize that you can't judgesomebody by what, how they act or how
the, you know, whatever it might be.

(47:39):
You know, he was doing it as aloving, kind thing for his wife.
And I, here I am thinking he'supset and I got to win him over.
I did have to say by the end of themeeting, he was right up to the desk
and right involved as much as she was,but it, you know, I think that's like
you were saying, that can do attitude.
We sometimes go into thingswith the wrong attitude.

(48:00):
You have to have that attitude of.
You know, I could have been offended,I could have, you know, they, I've
actually built his house, I've designedhis brother's house in St. George, I've
designed their cabins, three cabins forthe family, you know, I got like eight
jobs off of that one guy, you know.
So, you just never know.
You just never know.

(48:20):
So, it's, you always have to havea, go into it with a great attitude.
That's
Well, the other option is he couldhave had a bad burrito for lunch and
didn't want to spoil the atmosphere.
And he's at the back of the room.
That, that's the other, that'sthe more obvious answer.
I would think being a guy, you know?
how, like, you think, us women think,oh my gosh, this guy is mad, you know.

(48:42):
Yeah.
If we can't eat it, kill it, fix it,or made it, that's just how it works.
You know, you women just tie everythingup with emotions and thought.
We just, yeah, I would.
let's jump back to your company again,Caddis, because with the competition,

(49:04):
as you identified that Idaho isa busy marketplace competitive,
what do you do then to positionyour company that it stands out?
What is the, is there acompetitive advantage?
Is there something thatyou bring to the table?
And obviously you've got to be cognizantof what your competition is doing.
What do you do to standout from everybody else?
Let

(49:24):
Yeah, you know, 20 years ago itwas easy because I was the only
female builder in town, you know?
So that, that was my, you know,everybody'd say, Oh, you know,
the woman builder, you know,go, go talk to a woman builder.
She knows, she understands, youknow, she thinks about where the
bed goes and where the, you know,all the things that the guys don't.

(49:44):
So that's, that's what was my advantage.
But now obviously I've got.
You know, there's lots of women buildershere in our community now, which I'm
super proud of, you know, that, Ithink that is an amazing thing, but my
advantage is that I have surrounded,been able to surround myself by, with
my employees that are smarter than I am,those guys, they just are, and they care

(50:07):
about the company as if it's their owncompany, that really is my advantage.
So when they're out talking topeople, they're talking to them
as if it's their own company.
when you have one leader and oneperson that owns a company and
you're the only one that's passionateabout it, then you've got one
person talking about it in town.
When I've got 18 guys that arepassionate about this company.

(50:29):
That passion just goes out to everybody,you know, when they're talking to
people, they're excited about it, youknow, they are telling other people
about it and, and so I think that'sreally my advantage is, is all my
employees are talking about my companytoo, you know, and it's their company.
It's our company.
I shouldn't say my companycause it's not my company.

(50:50):
It's our company.
I get the our company part becauseyou're incentivizing them to want to
take ownership, like the select few.
I'm still thinking of the emyth, like how do you take.
What you just shared and how do you putthat into a system that's replicatable
that another builder can use?
So if you were, I'm not from Idaho, let'ssay I'm in, uh, North Carolina, right.

(51:13):
And you and I are at an associationmeeting and I'm saying, you know, Tanya,
man, I, I just don't know what to do.
You know, we build a great quality home,but I just can't differentiate ourselves.
What would you tell that guy?
You know, what do you do best?
what is you, what is yourstrength of your company?
What do you feel like yourstrength of the company is?
And then really focus on that, whether,whether it is schedule, build schedule,

(51:36):
you know, delivering the product,faster than anybody else in town can.
maybe that's not it.
Maybe it's a quality, maybe you havebetter quality than anybody else.
It might take you two years tobuild a house, but it's going
to be the best quality house.
You know, what is your strength?
and I don't think we take enoughtime, quiet time, phones off, all
electronics down, just a pen and apaper and sit down and really analyze

(52:00):
what our strengths are and what our,That's where that reflection comes
in, what was good, what was bad today,you know, what do we do really well?
What does your company do really well?
And then focus on that, really letpeople know that, you know, cause
everybody's looking for somethingdifferent when they come to a builder.
You know, some people arewanting the lowest price.
That's all they care about.
They want the lowest price.

(52:22):
There's some people that want thatsuper high energy efficient home, right?
They want somebody that wantsthat super healthy home because
their kids have allergies.
So figure out what you are good atand focus on that, you know, and
be the best in that field you know,whether it's a healthy home or,
or whatever it is, and really kindof set yourself apart from that.

(52:45):
So if I'm hearing this correctly,it's identify what my strengths are
that would appeal to my marketplace.
And be able to articulate thatin such a way that my perspective
buyers would understand that.
So it kind of reminds me,there was a famous copywriter.
I can't think of his name off the top ofmy head, probably back in the fifties.
And, uh, Budweiser of all beer companiescalled him in and said, Hey, we want to

(53:08):
create a campaign we really want to, youknow, take our beer to the next level.
What do we do?
He said, okay, I'm going to have tocome out to the plant and I'll spend a
week or two weeks, whatever it takes,I'm going to document everything I see.
So he's basically a tourist inthe plant and he's walking around.
And the first thing he sees arethese big brass kettles, and he
says, tell me about these kettles.
Oh, well, you know, we put the hopsin there with the, with the water

(53:30):
and the barley and everything else.
And that's where the beerbasically formulates.
Well, what kind of water to use?
Oh, it's all pure spring water.
And he's feverishly writing all this down.
This is amazing.
And the, the beer master looks athim and says, no, we all do it.
But the problem is, yeah, weall do it, but the customer
doesn't know we all do it.
And so Budweiser was the firstone to package that campaign, if

(53:53):
you will, about pure spring waterand the brass kettles, and that
gave him that strategic advantage.
So I think getting back to thequestion, it's up to the builder to
kind of identify what is that thingand how do I package it in a way
that is going to make me stand out?
Just like McDonald's, just a hamburger.
Oh no, it's whatever that goldenarches now brings to a person's memory.

(54:16):
Yeah.
The other thing that I always tell peopleis what's your 30 second elevator pitch?
You know, you got 30 secondsto make a first impression.
Tell me what you do in 30 seconds.
If you can't tell me what yourcompany is good at and what I'm
going to gain from you in 30 seconds,you've lost me as a customer.
So I need 30 seconds to know exactlywhat you're going to give me and

(54:38):
what your deliverables are that'sgoing to set you apart from any
other builder I sit down with.
And if they can't do that in that 30second elevator pitch, you've lost them.
So know your strengths and know how todeliver that to the public, you know.
That's
hog, you know, so, stayoff elevators, I think.

(55:05):
I mean, we've covered alot of ground here, Tanya.
I'm, I'm trying to think ofif we've missed anything.
Let me throw it to you.
Anything that you want tocover that I haven't addressed?
we talked about partnerships andnetworking and a lot of different
things, but you know, like I said, I'mkind of in that phase of my career.
We're giving back.
But mentoring is, is another areathat I really feel like that's

(55:28):
another way that we can grow the nextgeneration in is by mentoring them.
But when I say mentoring,immediately people think, Oh, I
don't have time to mentor somebody.
I can tell you that I have learned somuch from the kids and the women and
the entrepreneurs that I've, that I'mmentoring because all of those guys are

(55:50):
coming from a different world, right?
Those kids that are doing TikTok andthey're doing all this other stuff,
you know, you learn a lot of stuffabout how to market your company
and how to do, you can learn as muchas from them as you can teach them.
So I think when we mentor peopleto make sure that you are getting

(56:12):
something out of it as well, you'reasking those questions, you know.
Hey, what, where do you guys,what social media do you look at?
Use that information?
You know, I have interns that work inthe, there's a college here and there's
a construction management program.
And we have interns that intern here,both out in the field and in the office.

(56:32):
And those guys, man, they comein here and they will change a
process that we, that was hugely.
Like.
You know, very complex and they changeit to a simple cheat in two seconds.
It's like, well, why don't you do this?
Fresh eyes on your company.
Like you said, like the Budweiserguy coming in and they're like,
well, why do you do it this way?

(56:54):
Why don't you do this?
And it's like, I don't know,what did I think about, you know?
So I think mentoring and bringingthose young kids in, but, you know,
let them look at your processes andlet them question your processes.
You know, because they may come up withsomething that's like, well, why do you
do that when you, you know, why don'tyou do it this way, you know, which

(57:14):
is a great thing, so I think you canlearn a lot from mentoring as well.
And so that's kind of where my head,my career is headed is, is mentoring
other, you know, I have a builder inChicago and one in, You know, some
of the lower states and stuff thatmentoring them on just a monthly call.
I learn a ton from him, you know, a ton.

(57:35):
So
You just kind of opened a door therethat part of that mentorship is being
able to take the ego out of the equation.
So when somebody is offering yousomething not to finally say, well, what
do you know, what are you telling me?
I've been doing this for, youknow, before you were born,
you young whippersnapper, yeah.
But so one thing, getting back tothis Patrick guy, Patrick Murphy,
I'm glad I remember his name now.

(57:56):
He's got a company, one of his companies,and basically what you do is you submit,
we had a big laugh about this, so youcould write it down on a napkin as
long as it's got perspective and scale.
And our AI will take your plan andbased on where you are, what state, what
city, it'll identify all the bylaws.
It'll identify everything you needto know about building that home.

(58:19):
And it's all done literallyin seconds with AI.
And it's a great jump and like, thisis how far we've gotten with this.
So again, to your point, you've gotto take yourself out of the equation.
And uh, when, when I used to becompetitive martial arts, my coach
would take me aside from time to time.
He'd say, you know.
That's a really great way thatyou're blocking punches with your

(58:41):
face, but you may want to take alook at another way of doing it.
That's right, that's exactly right, yeah,AI is a perfect example, those kids are in
college right now, they are using AI everyday, AI is another thing, either we're
changing or we're dying, right, we'reeither accepting those new ways or we're
not going to be, you know, Part of thediscussion, you know, five years from now.

(59:03):
AI is a part of our world.
It's going to be, whether we think it'sgreat, whether we think it's bad, you
know, find the good in it, you know, andhow to use that, you know, those kids
know how to use that, you know, theyknow, uh, two seconds, they have AI,
they've looked something up and they'vewritten a whole paper on it, you know?
You're going to laugh.
I approach AI like a unknown dog,like I'm polite, I'm cordial.

(59:28):
I say, please, can youplease create me a prompt?
And then I always say, thank you.
Cause when, you know, theterminators do come, maybe
they'll treat me a bit less harsh.
I think, I don't know, that'sjust the way I'm thinking.
Tanya, if they want to find outmore about you, where can they go?
so I'm on, on the social media, youknow, uh, the socials, I say, Tanya

(59:48):
Cromwell, um, but, Build With Tea ismy, my new brand for mentoring people.
they could find me on any of the socialmedia that way, look up Idaho Home Design.
That's, that's a very easy oneto find my contact information
and everything right there.
Actually, there, there is one morequestion that we didn't even discuss it.
And you hinted to it.

(01:00:09):
you were talking about, we weretalking about spec building.
And, uh, I'd like to talk to youabout your relationship with capital.
So when it comes to doingspec, How are you doing that?
Are you using house funds?
Are you partnering?
Because any one of thosethings has its pros and cons.
And so for a builder, let's saya smaller builder, maybe somebody

(01:00:31):
that's doing you know, 10 to 15, theywant to take that to the next level.
What would Tanya's advicebe about leveraging money?
the one thing that I am very proudof in my company is I have never
had a bank loan for a spec house.
I don't do it.
And actually this new company,Caddis Builders, does not build

(01:00:51):
spec homes on company money.
If I want to build a spec home,I personally finance a spec home.
And Caddisfielders gets, uh, you know,they earn the profit and stuff, just
as they would a regular contractor.
And, but I take the profitoff the spec home personally.
Cash is, is immenselyimportant, cash flow.

(01:01:14):
But there's also, you know, when you'reout there, you got people at eight, nine,
10, 12%, you know, that they're charging.
It's kind of like those creditcards, you know, I, I just, I just
don't love borrowing money that theproblem with borrowing money on a
spec home is you don't know whatthe market's going to do, right?
Back in 08, when things were goingreally good, yeah, build spec homes,

(01:01:38):
build them, you know, but I got aguy that I built six spec homes for.
It was his money.
It was an investor.
He's sitting on five of them right nowbecause he can't get rid of them, you
know, just because the market is kind ofin that weird spot right now, you know?
Custom homes are great.
When we have an, a volatile marketlike this, cause if they've got a bank
approval, you know, you, you've gotsomething that's secured, but spend

(01:02:02):
clones, I'm more careful with, andif I can't still finance it, I don't
go get a bank loan for it because.
At the end of the day, if I'veself financed it, if I need
to rent it, I can rent it.
I, you know, if I have a bank loan onit, sometimes they won't let you rent it.
Sometimes you have to dump it andthen you're paying this interest
and all, you have to, every monthyou're calculating all the interest
on it and everything that way.

(01:02:23):
The one thing, if you want to grow yourcompany and you think that spec homes
is the way to do it, find an investorthat you can build a spec home for,
rather than building it for yourself.
So, doctors and lawyers and dentistsand those type of people, you know,
they invest in the stock market andthey invest in Bitcoin and they invest

(01:02:44):
in, you know, all these differentthings and then eventually they get to
the point that they want to diversifytheir portfolio and their portfolio
now says, okay, real estate's it.
The next thing is real estate.
So you know, when I go to thedentist, we talk about building him
a, you know, yeah, I had to buy, Ihad to build a couple of spec homes.
Do you know of some lots?
You know, yeah, we'll build acouple of specs for you, you know?
Okay.
And use their money to build.

(01:03:05):
Are you making all the profit offof a spec home that you would?
Probably not, but you'regetting your contractor's fee.
You're keeping all youremployees employed, right?
You know, so you're still inbusiness when times are tough.
So that's where I go.
If I, if I don't have, you know,a job lined up or if I'm, are,
we're kind of hurting for jobs,that's where I start looking.

(01:03:25):
It's for individual investors thatare looking to do that, you know?
if you were to build to scale, likeif you were doing, and I, I guess
that you guys don't do this, but ifyou were doing a small subdivision
or subdivision, you're doing 15, 20,30 homes, you don't really have the
facility to do that out of pocket.
Then you're looking for investors and

(01:03:45):
Yeah, so, so I am actually building a370 home subdivision where right now,
we'll build all 370 homes, but I amdoing that for an investment group.
So at the end of it, the investmentgroup owns those houses and
they're responsible to sell them.
But I don't sell them for them.
That's just not theavenue I want to be in.

(01:04:06):
There are some construction companies thatare that way, but I, I'm not one of them.
I just don't, I don'twant to be a sales team.
I don't have a sales team as well.
That's not what I specialize in.
That's not what I'm good at, right?
We've talked about focusingon what you're good at.
That's not what I'm good at.
So I, yeah, so we'll, we'll build all 370homes in that subdivision and I'm going

(01:04:27):
to deliver those homes in four months.
For those guys, so that there'senough room that they can
make money on those homes.
But that's what I'm good at isgetting that schedule and getting
those houses built quicklyand delivering them that way.
And then they take them fromthere and they have their sales
team and then they, they marketthem and they sell them that way.
Yeah.
And there's investment groups out therethat are wanting to do big developments

(01:04:48):
and I've got five of them right now thatare going, but they're all investment
groups that we're building them for.
One last question, Tanya, then we'llcall it a day, and I take it through
your leadership positions you've beeninterviewed before, and you've handled
this like a pro, despite my efforts here,you know, the question I've got for you
is, has there ever been a question thatyou wished the person interviewing you

(01:05:15):
would ask, but you've never been asked.
And what is that question?
I don't know that there'snecessarily been a question.
I guess the one thing that I'm most proudof, I guess that would be the question is
what are you most proud of in your career?
I was born, right here in Idaho.
I've lived in the same state,same place my whole life.
Growing up, when we were three years old,my parents moved out into the country.

(01:05:37):
We lived in a double wide trailer house.
And, uh, we were poor, but we,I, man, I had a great childhood.
I, you know, had a fabulous childhoodand everything, but we didn't have a lot.
And my parents, they still lived inthat trailer house 50 years later.
I'm 50, when I was 50 years old,they're still living in the same house.

(01:05:58):
My dad, uh, was in a wheelchair.
And I remember taking Sawzall and cuttingthe door frame off because he couldn't
get the wheelchair down the hall.
And so, three and a half yearsago, I started building a house
for my parents and I was ableto build and pay for a house.
Unfortunately, my dad got pancreaticcancer and passed away before he

(01:06:19):
was able to get into the house.
But, The cool part was I was able topromise him that I'll take care of mom.
And the, the well that we grew up on hadsand in it and the pipes would freeze
in the wintertime and there was nosprinkler system or anything like that.
And I was able, after dadpassed away, I was able to
move mom into a brand new home.

(01:06:40):
And she lives right next door to meand has no worries as far as a home.
And I think that's what I'm most proudof is that this career has given me
the ability to take care of my parentsand to be able to make that promise
to them, you know, was just amazing.
And that's why I give back so much to thisindustry that's given me so much because.

(01:07:01):
It just makes me so proud that I wasable to give that to him, you know,
but, but without the great people allacross the U. S. of helping me through
and teaching me how to be a entrepreneurand how to make it in this construction
industry, that would not have happened.
So thank you to everyone.
It goes right back to whatwe were saying earlier.
It's all about paying it forward.

(01:07:23):
Yeah, for sure.
So
Tanya, thanks for taking time out today.
Much appreciated.
Like I said, we covered a lot of ground.
There's anything I can ever do, reach out.
And I actually, I do lookforward to a part two.
I'd like to go deeper into whatyou're doing, mentoring with
getting more women into the trades.
And I'd really like todo a deep dive on that.
I think that'd be a lot of fun.
yeah, that would be great.

(01:07:43):
Yeah.
I appreciate you, Michael.
Thanks for reaching out to me and.
And, uh, somebody didn't even know, Iappreciate that, you know, so that's
awesome and, and I've really enjoyed it.
Thank you.